Post navigation

The 15 minutes before a job interview can be harrowing. Job seekers are never quite sure what to do with that time — but experts suggest that you look in a mirror, take deep breaths, and do whatever else it takes to get focused and stay calm.

“Those 15 minutes are your opportunity to get yourself into the right frame of mind, and set your energy and focus on who you’ll be meeting with, what you want them to remember about you, and what you want to ask them,” says Deborah Shane, a career author, speaker, and media and marketing consultant.

Here are 11 things you should do in the 15 minutes before a job interview:

1. Stay calm. When you become stressed, your body releases stress hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine. Depending on the level of your stress, these can slightly or greatly inhibit your ability to think clearly, says David Parnell, a legal consultant, communication coach, and author. “Ensuring that you remain calm, collected, and cool in the minutes leading up to the interview is necessary to avoid this hormonal elixir, and keep your mind clear.”

Career coach Anita Attridge agrees. She says staying calm before and during an interview allows you to listen better and to stay focused on how to best respond to questions. “In addition, you are better able to think how you can best present your accomplishments in alignment with what is important to the interviewer — and being calm also demonstrates your ability to deal with stressful situations.”

2. Arrive early, but don’t go inside. Few things can shake you more than running late to an interview, so always arrive early. However, be sure to wait in your car or a nearby café, as being too early can place unnecessary pressure on your interviewer and start the meeting off on the wrong foot, Parnell explains.

Rita Friedman, a Philadelphia-based career coach, says you shouldn’t walk into the office building more than 10 minutes early. “It can come across as an imposition, as if you are expecting the interviewer to drop whatever he or she is doing to attend to you.”

3. Be friendly to all receptionists and security guards. When you do walk into the office’s waiting room (which should be about 10 minutes before your scheduled interview time), remember to be nice to the receptionist, security guards, or whoever greets you. “It’s very likely that he or she will be reporting back to the hiring manager about how you behaved,” Friedman says.

4. Decide on one or two things you want to be remembered for. Is it your communications skills? Project management skills? Knowledge? “Keying in on a few things that will impact your memorability and likeability is a smart way to approach the interview,” Shane says.

5. Stop rehearsing. You don’t want to use this time to over-prepare or rehearse responses, which can make your conversation seem scripted and not authentic. “You want to know your stuff, but remember your interview is a conversation. Trust that you know what you know, and that the interview will take on a flow of its own,” Shane says.

6. Breathe. This will help with the first tip, which is to remain calm. “Counting your breath is one of the most immediate and impactful techniques for calming your nerves,” Parnell says. “Simply focus on your breaths, counting each until you reach 10, and repeat.”

7. Focus on your posture. Sit in a power pose while waiting to go in for your job interview. “You’ll come across as looking more confident and poised,” Friedman says.

8. Don’t check your voicemail, email, or social media accounts. You may hear or read something that will get you all worked up, Shane says. It will distract you and throw you off your game, which is one of the worst things that can happen.

9. Briefly review your notes, but don’t do any additional research. You should be done researching, preparing, and rehearsing. But if you made any notes for yourself, this is a good time to briefly look them over. “This is not the time to be using your phone to look up the company’s recent achievements or earnings report. Giving big numbers of projects a glance at the last second is a good way to misinterpret key information,” Friedman says.

10. Look in a mirror. Duck into a nearby restroom or clothing store to check yourself out in the mirror, Friedman suggests. “You may have left the house looking like a million dollars, but you could still arrive looking like a vagabond.” This is also a great time to wash your hands and make sure your fingernails are clean and your palms are dry. If you wore comfortable shoes and plan on changing into dress shoes, be sure not to do this in the office.

11. Think happy thoughts. This may sound cliché – but thinking of pleasant things that make you smile and feel good will help put you in the right state of mind going in to the interview.

One the biggest mistakes people make when they’re trying to impress someone is that they assume people only pay attention to the important or “big” things they do. But the reality is that the little things are what matter most. It’s the little things we do or don’t do every day that shape us in to who we are. The little things determine how we respond when big things come in to our lives.

The kind of image you present to the world is determined by your actions, comments, attitude, behavior and even appearance. These things can be noticed within the first few seconds of meeting someone. So, how do you let people know who you really are? How do you impress everyone around you without big gestures or a lot of time? These 30 things might be simple, but they have a big impact. Their effects are lasting. People will remember the little things you do and that can make the difference you’re looking for.

1. Dress the part

Your appearance is the thing people see first. They look at your clothes, hair, shoes, etc. They make assumptions about you before you even open your mouth. If you want to impress people, dress for the occasion. Take time to get ready in the morning.

2. Be on time

If you’re late for something, you’re giving someone the opportunity to judge you without you even being there. If you say you’re going to be somewhere at a certain time, then be there at that time. Waiting for someone when they should already be there is frustrating and annoying.

3. Don’t break your promises

There are too many people out there making promises they know they can’t keep. They promise something because it makes the other person feel better in that moment. The problem with that is that down the road, when you don’t follow through, the comfort that person felt turns into discouragement, frustration and even anger. If you can’t keep a promise, don’t make it. If you do make a promise, do everything you can to keep it.

4. Respect others

This includes your elders, minors, co-workers, family members, etc. This can be hard when you have to be around someone who has differing opinions than you, or who acts in a way you don’t approve of. But you can still be civil. If you look for attributes you respect in people, you will find them.

5. Be involved

If you support going green, then go green in your life. If you support your local government, then attend community meetings. Be a part of the things that matter to you.

6. Say, “Please,” and, “Thank you,” often

These are small words, but they go a long way. Expressing your gratitude to people, even for the smallest acts of kindness, shows that you see the good in people; it shows that you pay attention to the things people around you are doing and saying.

7. Smile often

Smiles are contagious. If a stranger walks past you at the store and smiles, it is a natural response to smile back. Seeing someone smile can remind others that there are things to be grateful for, that life is fun and exciting.

8. Don’t be constantly using your phone

When you are with someone, be with them. Phones are an amazing piece of technology. But they are also a distraction. Use your phone when it’s appropriate. You don’t need it out every second of every day.

9. Be faithful to your partner

We hear story after story about divorces and infidelity. It’s everywhere. By being honest and true with your partner, you are showing that you know where your priorities are. You understand what it means to be in a healthy relationship.

10. Support your children

Take time to be involved in your kids’ lives. Know what they’re interested in. Go their games, recitals, competitions, parent-teacher conferences, etc. Listen when they talk to you. Be the kind of parent they know they can go to when they have questions.

11. Personal hygiene isn’t an option, it’s a requirement

Have breath mints handy. Wear deodorant. Brush your teeth. Wear clean clothes. These are things that should be common sense, but some people really struggle with them. Talking to someone with bad breath is gross. It’s distracting. All you can think about is that you want to give them a mint. Take care of your personal hygiene and people will be more focused on what you’re saying and doing instead of how you smell.

12. Speak clearly and make eye contact

Let the person you’re talking to know that you are engaged in the conversation and that you care about what you’re discussing. Don’t mumble or look around, keep your focus on them.

13. Don’t chew gum

This can depend on the type of situation you’re in. If you’re with family hanging out or with close friends at the movies, gum is fine. But in a professional situation, gum is distracting.

14. Use humor

This can lighten the mood and bring people down from a tense state. Just make sure you’re using this at appropriate times.

15. Greet people with a handshake or hug

Determine what type of situation you’re in. You probably don’t want to go in to an interview and hug your potential boss, but you should offer them a firm handshake. With close friends and family members a hug shows a level of intimacy. It shows that you love and care about them and gives you a way to physically express that.

16. Be true to yourself

Know what you want out of life and do everything you can to achieve it.

17. Listen to others

When someone is talking to you, listen to what they are saying. Don’t be thinking of a response while they are still talking.

18. Perform acts of kindness

Open the door for someone, collect your neighbor’s mail when they go out town, make dinner for someone who just had a baby.

19. Be organized

Have a schedule and know what you have going on. Know where things are in your house, at work, in your car, etc.

20. Compliment people

Look for the good in people around you and take the time to let them know you noticed. Compliment them on their clothes, their work, their attitude, anything you can think of.

21. Share knowledge and information with others

When you have a skill or talent, share it. Teach others and share what you know and have learned.

22. Be positive and focus on the good

This can be hard when times are tough, but it’s possible. Look for the solution instead of focusing on the problem. Stay positive.

23. Help others

Help when and where you can. In most cases, chances to serve aren’t always at the most opportune times, but sacrificing your time to help someone in need says a lot about you.

24. Keep a clean car

Take your car through the car wash every so often. Clean out the inside. Don’t let garbage pile up. You never know when you’re going to have to give someone a ride.

I found these tips in an email from Marc Cendella, Founder of The Ladders. Marc says:

If you’re like most people, you have a resume that includes something like this:

Hired as Director, Tri-State Area

Responsible for a budget of $1.2 million

Managed staff of 5 in our downtown office

Your details may be grander, or your career may be at an earlier stage, but lots and lots of people have this style of information presentation on their resume.

Can you spot the error?

These resume bullet points simply describe what you did. They don’t tell your future boss how good you are at doing the job.

It’s obvious… If you’ve got a job, where you work in an office, in 2014, three things happened:
- You were hired for that job
- You had some monetary resources to manage
- You had people working for or with you

Seriously, you haven’t told the employer or your future boss anything they didn’t already know with those three bullet points.

So here are two simple tips.

First, read your resume out loud, putting the phrase “You should give me a bonus this year because…” in front of each line.

If it doesn’t make sense that somebody would give you a bonus, or increase your bonus, because of that line… delete it.

And write a different sentence that makes sense.

For example, going into your boss’ office and telling her “You should give me a bonus this year because you hired me to be Director, Tri-State Area” wouldn’t get you very far. You don’t really deserve a year-end bonus just for getting hired. (Does not apply if you’re a Japanese star being signed to play for the Yankees).

Rather, the things you do that deserve a bonus describe your accomplishments, not your position.

You increased sales. You decreased expenses. You improved the time it takes to do the tasks. You increased the efficacy of the process or product.

You made your company better somehow. You didn’t just show up… you did something well.

Which brings us to the second tip.

Count the number of $ signs and % signs on your resume. Now double them.

That is, rewrite your resume and include twice as many $ and % as were on your original resume. (And the minimum you should have, if you’ve been in the workforce for over a decade, is twenty.)

Dollar signs and percentage signs are indicators of achievements that you can quantify. Quantifiable achievements are more persuasive than qualitative achievements for most resumes.

So rather than just increasing sales, decreasing expenses, or improving task times, you..

Increased sales by 27% in my region through the effective use of strategic selling.

Decreased costs by 11% in my division without impacting productivity.

Generated $11 million in new bookings through database marketing.

Reduced server load by 73%, and server cost by 22% through refactoring old code base.

Save $1.2 million in recruiting and legal costs by insourcing.

Improved factory throughput by 17% by re-engineering the supply chain and introducing new manufacturing techniques.

When you read these bullet points with “You should give me a bonus this year because…”, they all make sense. And that’s because they provide a quantifiable achievement that made the company better because you were there.

And demonstrating to your future boss the types of achievements that he can expect from you, in numbers that he can understand, is the best way for him to come to the conclusion that you’re the right person for the job.

And that’s how you make your resume so much more effective in about two minutes on a cold Monday morning in January. And that is quite an achievement!

Promote your talent to the world! Enter the Communication Arts 20th Annual Juried Interactive Competition. If selected, your award-winning work will be beautifully reproduced in the 2014 Interactive Annual, in print and on the iPad, and on the Communication Artswebsite, promoting your talent on the industry’s premier stage.Each winning entrant will also receive one personalized Award of Excellence, milled from solid aluminum, plus printed award certificates for everyone directly involved in the creation of the project.

Why should you enter?

Winning places you in the highest ranks of your profession and guarantees your work will be seen by top design firms, agencies and potential clients who value creative excellence. Ask any creative director which competitions rank as the most influential and Communication Arts will be at the top of the list.

* Entries submitted after October 4, 2013 require a $10 late fee per entry. No entries will be accepted after October 18, 2013.

If you think creative jobs such as design or writing are impossible gigs to get, think again. Creative staffing agency Vitamin T compiled the top five most in-demand creative jobs in North America, as well as the skills needed to get the job. Companies of every size and type need creative individuals to help their business grow, and these roles top the list of most needed.
“We’ve seen a surge of new job opportunities in the creative space requiring high-demand digital skills,” says Susie Hall, president of Vitamin T. “Our fastest-growing areas are creative talent who bring strong user experience and frontend development skills, with growth rates of 51 and 75 percent respectively over the prior year.”

Here are the five most in-demand creative jobs:1. Design anduser experienceKey skills needed: Ability to employ design principles to reach a targeted audience of users effectively.Average annual salary: Design — $81,000, user experience — $94,000What they do: Designers develop and obtain images for creative projects such as advertisements, brochures, corporate identity, packaging, presentations, websites, promotional displays and signage. Their responsibilities may include managing the design, layout and formatting of materials, as well as developing concepts and communication with other creative roles.
User-experience designers use data to generate interactive experiences for specific audiences. They are responsible for understanding what the user wants and incorporating user-analysis information and feedback into the mechanics of a website. Their responsibilities may include testing and improving the usability and quality of a user experience. They must have an expert understanding of graphic design and web technologies.

2. Frontend developmentKey skills needed: HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript, with the ability to design for multiple user platforms, including mobile.Average annual salary: $75,000What they do: Frontend developers work with Web-based applications and website maintenance. They often collaborate with designers to create websites, microsites, HTML emails and interactive ads. Their responsibilities may include writing Web pages and coding, and they must be proficient in Web technologies such as user-interface design.

3. Content developmentKey skills needed: Copywriting for a wide range of deliverables, from print ads to blogs to social media.Average annual salary: $70,000What they do: Web content managers and writers develop online projects and create website content, including articles, product descriptions, online advertisements, promotional copy, e-newsletters, blogs and podcast scripts. These roles also ensure that content is consistent with company branding. Responsibilities may include writing and editing copy for print and the Web, as well as developing marketing efforts such as email marketing campaigns.

4. Project managementKey skills needed: Knowledge of digital technologies, and outstanding time management and persuasion skills.Average annual salary: $74,000What they do: Project managers oversee production of creative ideas and manage the logistics. Their duties may include project planning, workflow management, vendor negotiation, print buying, cost control, quality control, logistical coordination and press checks. This role often requires experience working under tight deadlines and budgets, as well as a thorough understanding of corporate/brand guidelines.

5. Digital marketingKey skills needed: Ability to integrate online marketing across all outlets, from websites to social media, and strong analytical skills.Average annual salary: $67,000What they do: Digital marketing includes a variety of roles, such as digital strategist, interactive marketing manager, digital marketing strategist and digital project manager. Responsibilities may include developing website user experience strategies and leading website usability testing across all phases of site development.

It’s the holy grail of negotiating for yourself at work—walking into your boss’s office and knowing you will come out with a raise.

It is actually possible. And no, there isn’t a magic phrase or action. It takes more than minimal effort.

But putting in the time to understand what it takes, and then doing it, will get you that raise.

Understand your workplace’s financial dynamics

Long before you walk into that office, you need to know if your boss can give that raise in the first place. Your boss may not be able to give anyone a raise—even if you were the most productive and talented employee in the office.

How do you find out? Understand the financial health of the organization. Are they laying off staff? Does your boss have any room in the budget for unexpected raises? If you’re an invaluable employee, bad financial situations don’t necessarily preclude you getting a raise (more on that below). Even a tight budget has room for tweaks. But you need to understand the constraints your boss faces before you walk in that room.

You may discover you can’t reasonably ask for a raise this week, but you might be able to the next month or the month after.

What does it take?

Even in downturns, people still get raises. You need to discover if there are discrete criteria for getting a raise in your company, even in a challenging financial environment. Here’s how to do that:

Ask

Come out and ask your boss what it would take to get a raise. The conversation may take you out of your comfort zone, but it’s great practice for your career and life. Who better to tell you the criteria than the person measuring you against the standard?

There are also some additional benefits to asking beyond improving your ability to have difficult conversations. One, it signals to your boss that you’re someone who takes your career seriously; and two, it shows that you want to succeed.

Look around

Use your powers of observation. Who has gotten a raise in the past year? This is often a closely guarded secret and, yet, people talk. If you discover those who received raises, put on your analytical hat. What seems to be their “secret”? What do they get done? What projects or roles do they take on?

Build a list of criteria based on your observations and analysis. But make sure to get confirmation that this is what you will get measured against to ensure that raise.

Find out what it takes to be invaluable

Invaluable people can walk into their boss’s office and get what they want. Being invaluable varies from workplace to workplace. Figure out what your workplace values. What do the “powers that be” value? What does your boss value?

(Note: you have to make sure your boss knows you’re invaluable.)

Another way? It’s usually not too hard to spot the superstar in the office. Being the superstar doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you’re invaluable or that you’ll automatically get a raise, but it’s a pretty secure place.

Observe these rare birds closely. What can you see that they do differently? How do they behave? What do they achieve?

Act

Now that you’ve figured out what gets people a raise, you have to work to meet those criteria. This is prep work of a different sort than researching the market and building an argument; in this instance, you’re doing the work to show you meet or exceed the standard.

Apart from the specific criteria you’ve discovered, this also often involves going above and beyond your job description and working really hard. It may also involve mingling with (and impressing) the right sort of people.

Do you really want it?

Take a hard look in the mirror. Are you willing to do what it takes to get that raise? You may not want to invest your time and energy in those things. Really assess your personal values here. Consider if that level of effort is worth it to you.

The good news is that if you decide to do so, you’ll not only get that raise; you’ll also become even more marketable going forward.

Celebrate the first day of Spring with a new job in account planning/strategy. Some of the best agencies and brands are looking for unique new insights and observations in the US and abroad. To apply for one or more of these roles, either click on the link below or send your resume to jobs@lasertalent.com.

Please feel free to share this list with friends. Referrals are always welcome. May the force be with you!